Episode 20 - Fandom Opinion transcript
Fandom Opinion transcript
Host: ravenna_c_tan
Title: Five Keys To Writing Post Deathly Hallows Harry/Draco.
Well, HD-shippers, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that the epilogue exists, and we know Draco didn't end up with Harry after all. The good news is that given the ages of the children in the epilogue, there's a good 6 to 7 years right after Voldemort's fall when Harry and Draco could have been having a torrid post-war affair. This interregnum is just one of the many gifts JK Rowling gave to us HD-devotees in Deathly Hallows, including that lovely tandem boom ride rescue.
If you're going to write what I'll call H/D Interregnum Fic, though, here are the five questions I feel I need to answer for myself, either in the story or in the background of the characters I use when writing it, even if the answers don't make it to the page. (Though they usually do...)
1. What else, other than what we see in the book, happened to Draco and the others during Voldemort's reign of terror at Malfoy Manor?
Narcissa implies that Draco goes back to Hogwarts for his seventhyear, when she says he is home for the Easter holiday, yet we know he is there all that summer and some other times. We see glimpses of Voldemort using Draco as a torturer, yet Draco's face, as Harry sees it in his vision remains "terrified." Apparently one can cast Cruciatus while scared to death...? We also see that Lucius is battered, bloodied, and bruised after Harry's escape, so Cruciatus is not the only form of pain inflicted when Voldemort is angry. What other horrors might Draco have witnessed other than a Hogwarts teacher being eaten by a giant snake? What else might he have suffered himself?
Personally, I'm getting ready to write some fic in which all that infliction of Cruciatus of others has left him a little touched in the head like his aunt Bellatrix, thought not quite so severe. Of course, the object of her obsession is the Dark Lord. Guess who I'm going to pick for Draco to drool over?
2. What was really going through Draco's head when he kept Harry's identity a secret after the Snatchers capture him?
You'd think, if returning his family to Voldemort's good graces was Draco's goal, it would have just been simple to say "Yup, that's Potter" while they had him in their clutches. Instead, he steadfastly refuses to identify him. That's right, Draco-haters, you might have to accept that Draco didn't really want Harry to be captured. But why? One possible motivation, the most selfish one I could think of, is that Draco doesn't want to identify him because if he does, he knows the Dark Lord will come back to Malfoy Manor. But that seems a bit of a stretch. Nonetheless, depending on how you want your postwar fic to go, you'll need to decide what his motivation for lying was.
3. What the hell was Draco doing outside the Room of Requirement?
All right, Mr. Malfoy, you show up at the Room of Requirement with Crabbe and Goyle in tow. Or are you the one in tow? It sure looks like you're tagging along with them. What were you expecting to find there? Voldemort baits Lucius in the Shrieking Shack over your disappearance, so obviously you weren't doing as you were told. Crabbe says you three "hung back" but why would you go to the Room of Requirement to look for Harry? Were you hoping to actually switch sides or at least beg for protection? Or were you really thinking by catching Potter you might finally gain the favor your father had lost? That's the crucial question. I'm sceptical that you were trying to gain favor, since if that were the case, you'd have just turned Potter in back at Malfoy Manor in the first place. Me? I'm just planning to latch onto the times you urged Crabbe and Goyle not to kill Harry. In fact, it looks like you might have distracted them at a crucial moment. But what were you really up to?
4. Was Draco in the Great Hall during the duel between Harry and Voldemort? And if so, what did he think of all the Elder Wand business?
My take is that Draco is going to want his old wand back from Harry at some point. Forget the Elder Wand, you think Ollivander is going to do a good job of matching Draco up with a new wand after nearly dying in the cellar of Malfoy Manor? Not bloody likely. I can just picture it. "Here you are my boy, this one is... a special wood called particle board, with a core of... goblin snatch." "But Mr. Ollivander, I thought you only used phoenix feather, unicorn hair, and dragon heartstring in your wands." "Ah, yes, well, that was always a bit of hyperbole on my part. In truth, there are so many unique wizards out there such as yourself that you didn't think a mere three cores would serve all comers? That one doesn't suit? How about this one with a core of troll booger?"
5. It takes two to tango, of course. So the final question I find myself wanting to answer is what did HARRY think of... well... everything about Draco in Deathly Hallows? He learns from Snape's memories that Draco is supposed to fail in his mission to kill Dumbledore, that sending him to do it is meant as a punishment for Lucius' failure. What does Harry actually think about the fact that Dumbledore wanted to save Draco's soul? What does he think about the fact that Draco lied to protect his identity at the Manor? What was Harry thinking when he went to rescue Draco (and Goyle) from the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement? How can it be that such important pieces of the point of view of the protagonist can be missing from the book??
Well, that's what fanfic is for. I'm Ravenna C. Tan, and that's my fandom opinion.
Host: ravenna_c_tan
Title: Five Keys To Writing Post Deathly Hallows Harry/Draco.
Well, HD-shippers, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that the epilogue exists, and we know Draco didn't end up with Harry after all. The good news is that given the ages of the children in the epilogue, there's a good 6 to 7 years right after Voldemort's fall when Harry and Draco could have been having a torrid post-war affair. This interregnum is just one of the many gifts JK Rowling gave to us HD-devotees in Deathly Hallows, including that lovely tandem boom ride rescue.
If you're going to write what I'll call H/D Interregnum Fic, though, here are the five questions I feel I need to answer for myself, either in the story or in the background of the characters I use when writing it, even if the answers don't make it to the page. (Though they usually do...)
1. What else, other than what we see in the book, happened to Draco and the others during Voldemort's reign of terror at Malfoy Manor?
Narcissa implies that Draco goes back to Hogwarts for his seventhyear, when she says he is home for the Easter holiday, yet we know he is there all that summer and some other times. We see glimpses of Voldemort using Draco as a torturer, yet Draco's face, as Harry sees it in his vision remains "terrified." Apparently one can cast Cruciatus while scared to death...? We also see that Lucius is battered, bloodied, and bruised after Harry's escape, so Cruciatus is not the only form of pain inflicted when Voldemort is angry. What other horrors might Draco have witnessed other than a Hogwarts teacher being eaten by a giant snake? What else might he have suffered himself?
Personally, I'm getting ready to write some fic in which all that infliction of Cruciatus of others has left him a little touched in the head like his aunt Bellatrix, thought not quite so severe. Of course, the object of her obsession is the Dark Lord. Guess who I'm going to pick for Draco to drool over?
2. What was really going through Draco's head when he kept Harry's identity a secret after the Snatchers capture him?
You'd think, if returning his family to Voldemort's good graces was Draco's goal, it would have just been simple to say "Yup, that's Potter" while they had him in their clutches. Instead, he steadfastly refuses to identify him. That's right, Draco-haters, you might have to accept that Draco didn't really want Harry to be captured. But why? One possible motivation, the most selfish one I could think of, is that Draco doesn't want to identify him because if he does, he knows the Dark Lord will come back to Malfoy Manor. But that seems a bit of a stretch. Nonetheless, depending on how you want your postwar fic to go, you'll need to decide what his motivation for lying was.
3. What the hell was Draco doing outside the Room of Requirement?
All right, Mr. Malfoy, you show up at the Room of Requirement with Crabbe and Goyle in tow. Or are you the one in tow? It sure looks like you're tagging along with them. What were you expecting to find there? Voldemort baits Lucius in the Shrieking Shack over your disappearance, so obviously you weren't doing as you were told. Crabbe says you three "hung back" but why would you go to the Room of Requirement to look for Harry? Were you hoping to actually switch sides or at least beg for protection? Or were you really thinking by catching Potter you might finally gain the favor your father had lost? That's the crucial question. I'm sceptical that you were trying to gain favor, since if that were the case, you'd have just turned Potter in back at Malfoy Manor in the first place. Me? I'm just planning to latch onto the times you urged Crabbe and Goyle not to kill Harry. In fact, it looks like you might have distracted them at a crucial moment. But what were you really up to?
4. Was Draco in the Great Hall during the duel between Harry and Voldemort? And if so, what did he think of all the Elder Wand business?
My take is that Draco is going to want his old wand back from Harry at some point. Forget the Elder Wand, you think Ollivander is going to do a good job of matching Draco up with a new wand after nearly dying in the cellar of Malfoy Manor? Not bloody likely. I can just picture it. "Here you are my boy, this one is... a special wood called particle board, with a core of... goblin snatch." "But Mr. Ollivander, I thought you only used phoenix feather, unicorn hair, and dragon heartstring in your wands." "Ah, yes, well, that was always a bit of hyperbole on my part. In truth, there are so many unique wizards out there such as yourself that you didn't think a mere three cores would serve all comers? That one doesn't suit? How about this one with a core of troll booger?"
5. It takes two to tango, of course. So the final question I find myself wanting to answer is what did HARRY think of... well... everything about Draco in Deathly Hallows? He learns from Snape's memories that Draco is supposed to fail in his mission to kill Dumbledore, that sending him to do it is meant as a punishment for Lucius' failure. What does Harry actually think about the fact that Dumbledore wanted to save Draco's soul? What does he think about the fact that Draco lied to protect his identity at the Manor? What was Harry thinking when he went to rescue Draco (and Goyle) from the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement? How can it be that such important pieces of the point of view of the protagonist can be missing from the book??
Well, that's what fanfic is for. I'm Ravenna C. Tan, and that's my fandom opinion.